


Trouble Maker

by mid_sweettalk



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-07-15 14:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7227064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mid_sweettalk/pseuds/mid_sweettalk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra has powers: she can control fire, water, and earth with just the will of her mind. After causing an accident, Korra has to switch to Republic City High School, where a girl named Asami makes her question herself. One day, a man with strange tattoos comes and calls her the "Avatar," saying that she has to save the world. But Korra is just a regular girl... right? [Korrasami]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Super Cool

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! So I've posted what I have of this story so far on fanfiction, but I wanted to see what readers here thought of it, as well. I'm actually still writing on this fic! So that's a good sign! Comment and let me know what you think! Enjoy :)

The water was cool, running over her skin at a temperature just above icy. Korra had always loved her showers cold, though she never knew why. She stared at the spray coming from the nozzle for a long while. She had already washed her hair and body, and was now simply letting the water calm her.

She hesitated for a brief moment before slowly lifting her hand. Gradually, small droplets of water started to separate from the continuous stream, rising into the air above it.

“Korra!” her mother called from downstairs. All of the water Korra had been controlling fell to the shower floor. “Don’t take too long! You don’t want to be late for your first day!”

Korra sighed, all of the relaxing effects of her shower now gone with the reminder of today’s main event. “I’ll be down soon!” she called in response.

After exiting the shower, she wiped the fog off of the mirror to make sure her brown hair was lying correctly. She studied her reflection for a moment before shaking her head at herself. She shouldn’t have messed with the water like that— _bending_ , she secretly called it. It was the whole reason for why she had to switch schools in the middle of the year (again). True, she hadn’t done any damage with water-bending yet; it was fire-bending that had gotten her into trouble.

She pulled the front strands of her hair into two tails and the rest into a high ponytail at the back of her head. With one last sigh, she left the bathroom to get dressed for the day. She chose a blue shirt that matched her eyes and contrasted beautifully with her brown skin. She flexed her muscles in the mirror. She couldn’t help herself; she needed the confidence boost for the day, and seeing all the progress she had made over the past year always helped to make her feel better.

“Korra!” her mother called once more.

“I’m coming!” she replied, giving her outfit one last glance in the mirror before grabbing her book bag and heading downstairs.

_Just don’t burn the school down on the first day. Is that so hard?_

In the car, she couldn’t keep her leg from shaking. Her mother, Senna, reached over to place her hand on Korra’s knee. “Look, sweetie, I know you’re nervous, but I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’ve been controlling your… urges extremely well since this last accident, right?”

_Not really._ “Yeah, I know. I just… don’t want something to go wrong again.” And she didn’t; she may not like having to hide such a huge part of herself, but she really didn’t want to hurt anybody or mess anything up.

“I know you don’t. Just have faith; it’ll all be okay. You’ll see!” Senna smiled at her daughter before turning her eyes back to the road and singing along with the radio.

Korra internalized her sigh. Her leg kept bouncing.

* * *

Asami hadn’t really been expecting anything particularly exciting to happen at school that day. It was just another Monday for her. She had an exam in her math class the next day, but that wasn’t anything to make a fuss about.

Then the new girl showed up in her physics class, and Asami knew she would remember this day. The girl was all gorgeous, brown skin over toned muscle, with eyes that shone as clear as the ocean in the Caribbean. And the worst part of it was that her boyfriend was absent today for a lacrosse game at another school, which meant the only empty seat at the moment was the one next to her.

“Okay, Korra,” Dr. Varrick said to the new girl, “you can sit over by… Miss Sato! That’s usually Mako’s seat, but he’ll just have to figure something else out. On you go, shoo, shoo.”

Asami internally groaned as the new girl walked towards her. She quickly averted her eyes back to Dr. Varrick when Korra flashed her a pearly-white grin that made her heart flutter. She tried to ignore the pang in her chest that followed when she saw that smile fall.

Was this punishment? For lying to her father, telling him that these… _feelings_ had disappeared, that the therapy had worked? Was the universe trying to torture her into confessing by sending a literal angel to tempt her?

She kept her eyes forward for the duration of class, but couldn’t ignore the new girl any longer once the bell had rung. With a hand on Asami’s arm, Korra introduced herself.

“Sorry to bother you, but, uh, would you mind telling me how to find room… 311?”

Asami closed her eyes and held back her sigh. “Yeah, that’s actually where I’m heading. You can just… walk with me.”

Korra grinned again. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”

Asami caught herself smiling back and forced her face to go blank again. “Yeah, it’s no problem.”

On their way to their next class, Asami was arguing with herself constantly. She could feel the awkwardness between them as Korra was struggling to keep quiet in order to not annoy her. Finally, she gave in. “So… my name is Asami, by the way.”

Korra gave a hopeful smile at this. “Asami Sato. Cool. Nice to meet you.”

Asami couldn’t help the smile this time. “Yeah, you too.”

She was in for a world of trouble, now.

* * *

Korra didn’t know why Asami seemed so reluctant to talk to her. She knew she was the new girl, but that had never made people _avoid_ her before. Treat her differently, yes, but not act like she was contagious. So when the Asian girl finally willingly spoke to her on their way to math class, Korra was caught off guard, but happy.

Asami was actually kind of intimidating. She was extremely pretty, with black hair that flowed down her back as if she were in a magazine, and her makeup done just as perfectly. Looking at her made Korra’s chest feel weird. She hoped that they could become friends and feel more comfortable around each other; she just had the strongest feeling that she would love being Asami’s friend.

Math class was where she met Bolin, a barrel-bodied goofball who immediately started “working his charm” on her. _He’s cute_ , she thought as he made her laugh with his cheesy pickup lines, _but more in the… loveable-dork kind of way._ Asami seemed to know him pretty well, and so she managed to calm him down a bit by the time class was over. Korra was following Bolin out of the classroom after the bell when something red, white, and furry jumped out of his backpack right in front of her face.

“What is _that_?” she gasped, leaping backwards and bumping right into Asami.

Bolin turned around and gasped, himself. “Pabu, no!” He shoved the furry thing back into the backpack, then sheepishly looked up at Korra. “Sorry about that… he doesn’t do well when he’s home alone, so I have to take him to school with me.” Turning toward the backpack, he chided, “And Pabu should know better than to jump out and scare people like that, shouldn’t he? Yes he should, and he will be getting a very serious talking-to when we get home!”

Korra raised an eyebrow at the boy’s antics, not sure whether to find him endearing or slightly frightening.

“That’s his pet ferret. Bolin, uh, does this kind of thing a lot,” Asami breathed into Korra’s ear from her position still behind her.

Korra gasped again and jumped away from the taller girl. “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to just… be all over you like that. I’ve heard that I have issues with personal space sometimes.”

Asami chuckled, still sounding a bit breathless to Korra. “It’s okay, really. No problem at all.” Korra was still concerned, but Asami merely shook her head and pushed her further into the hallway. “Come on, tell me where your next class is.”

Korra shook her head at herself before digging her schedule out of her pocket. “Okay, um… Spanish in 202.”

“Oh, hey!” Bolin popped his head back up toward the girls. “That’s my class! Awesome!”

As strange as he was, Korra wasn’t disappointed that she had another class with Bolin. She was, however, a bit saddened that she had to leave Asami. As they waved goodbye and Asami left, Bolin seemed to take notice of Korra’s slightly dampened mood.

“Don’t worry, we’ll see her at lunch. She’s awesome, right?”

Korra chuckled lightly. “Yeah, she is. So, uh, are you any good at Spanish, because I suck.”

Bolin puffed out his chest as they walked, putting on the most horrible Spanish accent Korra had ever heard when he said, “ _Yo hablo español muy bien, ¡gracias!_ ” She couldn’t help but snort at him. He didn’t take it to heart.

* * *

“So, tell me, Korra,” Bolin said with an arm around her shoulders as they walked to lunch, “do you… have a boyfriend, back home?”

Korra laughed and shook her head. “Nah, no boyfriends.” She caught sight of Asami walking down the hall from the opposite direction and noticed how she chewed on her lip as if she were lost in thought.

Bolin glanced back and forth between Korra and Asami. “…Any girlfriends?”

Korra’s head whipped toward him. “ _What?_ ”

He lifted his arm off of Korra’s shoulder so he could raise his hands innocently. “Hey, it’s no problem if you’re into the ladies, you know. I mean, it sucks that I don’t have a chance, but it’s all good!”

Korra just gaped at him, stammering a bit. “I—look, I don’t like _girls_. I like boys, I just—you’re not my type, Bolin.”

He raised one of his bushy eyebrows. “Okay, okay, I’ll keep your little secret.” Korra scoffed, but he just leaned in to whisper, “Word of advice though? Asami’s taken. You should probably set your eyes on another girl.”

Korra rolled her eyes, ignoring her stomach as it churned uncomfortably. “I don’t ‘have my eyes set’ on Asami because I’m _not_ into girls.”

Bolin winked just before they met up with Asami at the entryway to the cafeteria. The taller girl gave her a hesitant smile, and Korra tried to ignore the way her chest felt after Bolin said she was taken.

_I’m not into girls. She’s just… super cool._ Korra shoved her hands deep into her pockets as she awkwardly followed the two of them to the lunch line. _Really, really super-cool. That’s all._

She really craved some stress-relieving bending right about now.

 


	2. Good, Sober Fun

Of _course_ Korra would miss her bus home on her first day. She plopped down dejectedly onto the curb as she watched the giant yellow blob fade into the distance. She was about to pull out her phone to call her mom—she wouldn’t get off of work for another hour, but it was sooner than her dad would be available—when a hesitant voice spoke up behind her.

“Need a ride?” Asami had her arms awkwardly folded behind her back. She had made the split-second decision to offer assistance to the new girl, even though every part of her brain was screaming at her to stay away.

Korra’s heart, meanwhile, had picked up pace considerably in response to Asami’s presence. “I—uh—sure? I mean, no.” She was stammering and stumbling, so she hastily shook her head at herself and got to her feet. “I mean… I don’t want to be a bother,” she finally sighed.

Asami couldn’t help but giggle a bit at Korra’s behavior. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, the new girl was pretty adorable. “It’s okay. If you end up not living in my direction, then I can help you find someone who does for the next time you inevitably miss the bus. Sound okay?”

Korra wanted to argue, but couldn’t think of anything to say in rebuttal. She gave a small, grateful smile as she nodded. “I live on South River Street. I know it’s out of the zone….”

Asami’s heart stopped, and she had to clear her throat before she could speak. “That’s actually just across the zone lines, I think, because I actually live on North River Street.”

Korra’s grin widened. “Oh, so you’re just on the next street over from me! That’s so weird, how we’ve lived so close but never met because of the school zones.”

“Yeah, you would think I’d have noticed you before,” Asami said before she realized she was speaking aloud, making Korra blush.

“Why do you say that?” Korra suddenly felt nervous and found herself rubbing the back of her neck.

“Oh, no reason in particular,” Asami hastily covered herself. “You just… have that kind of personality, I guess.”

That helped Korra relax a bit. “Well, thanks!”

Asami just nodded. “We should probably head to my car, now.” She quickly turned to start walking toward the parking lot, mentally chastising herself with each step. She needed to _avoid_ Korra, not offer to spend more time with her. This was already getting out of hand.

She needed to figure something out, and soon.

* * *

The next day, Korra woke up from an extremely weird dream. There had been a tall, white, balding man with a long goatee in strange red-and-yellow robes. He knew her name, but she didn’t remember his. She did remember bending with him, although he seemed to be able to bend the _air_. He never used earth, or water, or fire like she did… just air, which she couldn’t control.

He had also called her something… an aviator? _Avant-garde_? Something strange like that, and she couldn’t remember why.

Now that she was registered, she took the bus to school. Since Asami and Bolin had been the only people she’d actually talked to the day before, she found a seat by herself and watched out the window the whole time. This was fine, she told herself. Eventually, she’d make more friends, and at least one of those friends was bound to be on the same bus as hers.

Then she noticed how much the other kids on the bus seemed to be whispering between glances at her, and she wasn’t so sure it was _fine_ , anymore.

* * *

Asami wasn’t in physics class when Korra got there. She took the same seat she had the day before, but almost as soon as she sat down, she was approached by a spiky-haired boy.

 _Now he’s cute_ , she thought, and she was too distracted by that fact to realize that he actually seemed kind of angry. “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head, “what was that?”

He sighed heavily. “You’re sitting in my seat. Could you get up?”

Korra’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, uh… Dr. Varrick told me to sit here yesterday, so I don’t really know where else to sit… You must be Mako. I’m Korra.” She gave her best smile, but he didn’t seem impressed; he just sighed again.

“Look, Asami isn’t gonna be here today, so you can take her seat until you talk to Dr. V, I guess. Just—move? Please?”

Korra smiled again, switching seats as she talked. “Oh, you’re friends with Asami! I am, too—or, I mean, I _hope_ we can be, we just met yesterday, but I’d like to be friends with her, she seems really cool. Is she okay? She’s okay, right? Sick or something?”

Mako raised an eyebrow at her. “You talk kind of a lot, don’t you?” He set his book bag down before taking his now-free seat.

Korra blushed at the comment. “I mean, I don’t mean to. Sorry. I just get nervous when I start at a new school.”

He turned more toward her, seeming a bit more interested now. “You have to switch schools a lot, then? Is your family, like, military?”

Her blush deepened, and she could feel herself slouch down in her seat a bit. “Um, no, not military. I just, uh, get into some trouble, sometimes. But,” she hastened to add, “I’m fixing that! No more trouble for me, no sir, just a good, honest, uh, good student.” _Idiot_ , she chastised herself.

But Mako had a small, amused smile on his face. “Uh-huh. Alright, _Korra_ , was it?”

“Yeah.” She relaxed a bit. “Korra.”

The bell rang, and Dr. Varrick literally slid into the classroom and slammed the door behind himself. “Whew! Sorry I’m late, class; I had to escape from a huge pack of badgers! You wouldn’t believe it!”

Korra and Mako glanced at each other before sharing a chuckle at their teacher’s antics. “He does this kind of thing a lot,” Mako whispered. “You’ll get used to it.”

Korra smiled before turning back to the front of the classroom. Mako was super cute, and she smiled a lot with him. So she liked him, right? Right, must be. No big deal, she would just wait a little bit to see how they got along before she asked if he was interested. She nodded resolutely to herself before finally tuning in to what Dr. Varrick was saying.

Asami wasn’t in math class, either. Bolin was already sitting in his seat, murmuring to his backpack. Korra was slightly confused before she remembered the ferret that had popped into her face the day before. She walked right over to him and took the chair beside him. “Hey, Bolin. You know where Asami is?”

“Oh, Mako said she’s not feeling too good today. Asami never gets sick, though, so she should be back perfectly healthy tomorrow!” He was absentmindedly petting Pabu while he spoke.

“Oh, you know Mako, too?”

“Yeah, he’s my brother!” He perked up even more than he normally was. “He’s like my best bud! Besides Pabu, of course,” he quickly apologized into his backpack.

Korra’s eyebrow raised. “Wow, you guys seem nothing alike.”

Bolin just shrugged. “Yeah, we get that a lot.”

She shook her head. “So, Asami’s okay, then?”

“Yeah, she should be.” He looked up at her curiously. “You seem awfully worried about her, huh?”

Korra felt her cheeks burning. “Well, I mean, she was just so nice to me lately, of course I want her to be okay. That’s perfectly normal... right?”

Bolin shrugged again. “Whatever you say, dude. Hey!” This shook Korra out of her haze of insecurities. “Would you wanna hang out after school today? Mako has lacrosse practice, so I gotta stick around until he’s done. I usually go down by the lake and _chill_ , if you know what I mean.” He wiggled his eyebrows so that Korra couldn’t help but laugh.

“I mean, I can’t really risk getting into trouble right now,” she said sheepishly, “but I would love to just hang out.”

“Oh, yeah, no prob! It’s not for everyone, I get that. Good, sober fun is always… well, fun, too.” He grinned, and Korra could tell that he meant it.

“Well, then sure. I have nothing to do, anyways.”

* * *

The lake was hidden in the woods behind the school building. The trees opened up to the sky beautifully, and there was green grass all around. Korra smiled as she noticed a mama duck and her ducklings swimming up to greet them.

“I always like to bring them a little something,” Bolin said sheepishly, digging through his backpack. Pabu jumped out while he was searching, and Korra made to grab him so he didn’t run away. “No, it’s okay! Pabu knows this place. He won’t run away. He just likes playing with the babies,” he laughed. He finally pulled out a tiny baggie of chopped-up grapes. At Korra’s questioning look, he said, “When I started coming here regularly, I looked it up, and you’re actually not supposed to feed them bread. It’s bad for them. Grapes are better! Long as they’re chopped up so they don’t choke.” He pulled one out and tossed it on the ground by the water.

Most of the ducklings swarmed around the fallen piece as the mother watched from her place still in the water. One, however, chirped as it walked up to Korra. She looked up at Bolin with wide eyes.

“Here,” he said, handing her a piece of grape.

She tentatively took the food and slowly bent down, holding the grape out in her fingers. She chuckled when the duckling grabbed the food from her, quacking up at her happily. “It’s really nice of you to feed them like this.”

Bolin shrugged. “It’s what I do.” He scattered the rest of the pieces around before walking closer to the shoreline. Korra followed him and watched as he picked up a stone, tossed it into the air for a moment, and threw it so it skipped across the water.

An idea sparked in her head. “Wanna see a trick I learned, uh, from my uncle?” Bolin held his arms out to welcome her beside the water. She picked up one of the rocks and, feet planted firmly on the ground, sent it skipping onto the water. Twitching her hand ever-so-slightly so Bolin wouldn’t notice her bending, she made the stone skip around in a large circle and jump into the air before finally plopping into the water.

She turned to see Bolin with his mouth hanging open and staring at her in awe. She shrugged her shoulders as she fabricated a story. “Yeah, it took a really long time for me to learn how to do it. I can try to teach it to you, but it’s gonna be _years_ probably before you can—”

“Korra,” Bolin interrupted.

Korra raised an eyebrow as he bent down to pick up another stone. “Bolin, I promise you won’t be able to…”

She could only watch with her mouth agape as Bolin recreated the exact trick she had just done. She turned back to him once the stone had fallen into the water, only to see him, palm open, another stone twirling in mid-air above it.

“You can… _earthbend_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and let me know what you think, your thoughts on where the story's going, anything :) I love talking to y'all!


	3. Coincidence

“I can’t believe you can transform _three_ different things! Mako and I can only do one each.”

Korra crinkled up her nose at Bolin’s statement. “I like ‘bending’ so much more than… ‘ _transforming._ ’ You’re not really changing what the material is, you know, you’re just—twisting, shaping, _bending_ it to your will.”

Bolin just waved her off. “So, this mysterious act of delinquency you committed at your last school…?”

Korra rubbed the back of her neck and looked back out at the lake to avoid Bolin’s eyes. “I was trying to sneak a blunt in the art room, but, uh… particles in the air, probably leftover from some adhesive spray, caught fire when I tried to light up.” She snapped her fingers to demonstrate before remembering that Mako was apparently a firebender, so Bolin was probably used to that trick. “They think I was messing around with the kiln and blew it up on purpose.”

Bolin gasped dramatically. “That’s ridiculous! Why couldn’t it have been an accident?”

Korra shrugged, absentmindedly sending a stone out to skip across the lake. “After flooding the girls’ bathroom twice and catching a bush outside on fire, I can understand why they would think I was doing it all on purpose.” She shook her head as memories of her old schools floated through her head. Even her so-called “friends” had all eventually turned on her and didn’t believe that her “accidents” were actually accidents. “It’s just something I have to learn to control more.”

“Oh, yeah, Mako really has to work on his anger, too. I’ve tried to give him some relaxation techniques, but he won’t listen to me.” Bolin shrugged. “I can’t even imagine having to control all that power, though. It’s hard for me just to control my earth powers.”

Korra cocked an eyebrow. “From what I’ve seen, you’re pretty good.” She could have sworn she saw his eyes light up animatedly from the compliment.

“Thank you, so much! I’ve never really had anybody around to tell me that, before.” He kicked a couple of stones into the air and sent them sailing across the water. His tone fell a bit flat as he spoke, making Korra watch his face concernedly. “Our dad was a…. _earthbender_ , as you like to call it. Mom was a firebender. They taught us the basics and made sure we knew that we couldn’t tell anybody about our powers. But…” His lip wobbled, and Pabu immediately crawled his way into Bolin’s arms. “They were killed in a car accident back when I was fourteen. Mako and I ended up in an orphanage for a year or so. Man,” he chuckled, “he worked his butt off for me. Got so busy working so that we could live decently in our own place that he fell behind in school. That’s why he’s in our year.

“Before we ever got emancipated or whatever though, these really great people showed up to take us in. I remember the first night they told Mako to quit his jobs.” Bolin squeezed Pabu tighter to his chest. Korra’s heart ached at the tremor in the boy’s voice. “That was the first time I had ever seen him cry since before Mom and Dad died. But it was of relief, you know? We were finally safe. We could stop fighting for ourselves. All the money he made is in a savings account to help us with college. It’s been growing interest ever since, and I’ve never seen Mako happier than when he finally got to be on the lacrosse team.” He had a dreamy smile across his face that made Korra smile as well.

After Bolin wiped the tears from his eyes, Korra spoke up. “Thanks for sharing that with me, Bo. It means a lot.”

Bolin shrugged. “You shared with me. Plus, our biggest secrets have been revealed to each other,” he laughed. “Now there’s nothing we can’t tell each other!”

Korra chuckled a bit awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck again. “I can think of a _few_ things I don’t really want to know about you, but the sentiment was nice.”

“Thank you, thank you. I aim to entertain.”

* * *

 

“No, dude, trust me,” Bolin said into his phone, winking at Korra repeatedly, “I know you wanna go home, but you _gotta_ come down to the lake first…. _Because_ there’s something you have to see! I promise, it’s super-important! Five minutes, tops…. Well, I’m not coming up to the parking lot until you come see this, so I’ll see you soon, bye!” He hung up quickly before returning his full attention to Korra. “He’ll be down soon!”

Korra suddenly felt uneasy at the aspect of Mako joining them at the lake, especially if it was so that she could show off her bending. She still couldn’t really believe that there were other people like her in existence, let alone that she had _found_ two and befriended one.

“He won’t, like, freak out or anything, right?” she asked nervously.

Bolin chuckled. “Nah,” he said with a nonchalant wave of his hand, “at least… I don’t think so? Oh, hey, speak of the devil!”

“Okay, Bolin, _what_ is so important that I—oh. Hey, Korra.” Mako’s eyebrows (distinguishably formed, Korra noticed, despite his just coming from lacrosse practice) furrowed curiously. “What’s going on?”

“Okay!” Bolin was bouncing excitedly on his toes. “So, first off, we’re giving Korra a ride home today—but! You won’t mind, because of _this_!” He dramatically waved his hands in Korra’s direction, coughing when she didn’t move at all.

“Oh, right,” she stammered with a blush, turning so that Mako couldn’t see her face. Now facing the lake, she performed the same trick she had initially done for Bolin, but ended it by engulfing the chosen stone within a bubble of water and carrying it back to drop on the grass in front of them.

When she turned back around, Mako was staring at her blankly, his mouth hanging slightly open. A few long seconds passed without him saying anything, so Bolin intervened. “She can even do fire, too!” He nodded encouragingly at her.

“Oh, yeah,” she stuttered again, feeling like a broken record. She hurriedly snapped her fingers, but in her nervousness created much too big a flame. She leaped back, and the fire extinguished from her palm. She could feel her face burning bright red, now, completely embarrassed by her lack of control.

“Uh… Korra?” Bolin said uneasily. He was pointing above her head.

She had lit one of the branches of the nearby tree on fire. Cursing under her breath, she hurriedly bent as much water as she could grab out of the lake and tossed it up to douse the burning branch. As soon as this was done, however, there was gasping and spluttering to her left.

She had tossed the water onto Mako.

“I am _so_ sorry!” she exclaimed. She looked desperately at Bolin for help, but he was only trying not to burst out in laughter. “I—I’m sorry! You don’t have to give me a ride home, okay, I’m sorry, I’ll just walk. I’m sorry!”

She started to speed-walk back toward the parking lot, but Mako called, “Wait!” and grabbed her arm as she passed.

She froze, afraid to look at him. “I’m sorry—I promise, I won’t tell anyone about you and Bolin, I know how to keep a secret—”

“Where did you learn all of that?” Mako interrupted incredulously. “How can you transform three elements? Who taught you?”

When Korra finally looked up at Mako, there was pure glee in his eyes. She couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

 

Korra went to bed extremely pleased that night. The day had turned out much better than she had originally expected it to—she had gotten closer to Bolin, and now had something to bond over with Mako, as well. They even offered to take her to and from school, so she wouldn’t have to ride the bus anymore.

She hadn’t informed either of her parents about this new development. They were both strictly against her using her bending at all, so Korra knew they wouldn’t want her hanging around people who could teach her more about it. She went to bed with a smile on her face, anyway.

And she dreamt of the monk, again.

_“Korra,” he called—and she knew now that his name was Tenzin. He was alone, surrounded by pure whiteness, an emptiness that unsettled her. “You are the Avatar. You are to bring balance to this world, as all the Avatars before you have. You must let me help you master the fourth element.”_

_“Who are you?” she replied, although she felt as if she should already know the answer. “How can you teach me?”_

_“I will come to you, Korra.” He reached out to her, palms facing up. “Just let me find you. Don’t fight it. Let me come to you.”_

_Suddenly, she was sitting on her bed, and Tenzin was standing directly in front of her._

Korra awoke with a gasp, a cold sweat covering her skin. The spot in front of her was empty—there was no bald monk named Tenzin there with her.

Shaking her head at herself, she grabbed her phone and quickly pulled up Google. She searched for “avatar” and received a bunch of links to reviews of the movie about blue aliens. Shaking her head again, she added “-movie” to the search, and at the bottom of the page was a link to a site entitled “The Legend of the Avatar.”

As Korra read through the articles on the website, she became increasingly unsettled. It talked of ancient times, when the world was filled with people who could manipulate the elements to their will—earth, water, fire, and air. They even called it “bending,” like she did. The legend described one person who could bend all four elements, whose spirit was reincarnated with each life: the Avatar.

It also described a war that had occurred, in which the Fire Nation wiped out nearly all of the Air Nomads, then was defeated by the conjoined forces of the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom. The war brought devastation upon the world, even the non-benders. Benders were a minority by the time the war ended, and non-benders began to shun those with powers because of the destruction and loss they had wrought—even the Avatar was kept in hiding, generation after generation. The page said that some people believed benders to still exist in the world, just in hiding for fear of discrimination.

“But it’s just a legend,” Korra said out loud to herself. “It’s just a legend.” It was just a coincidence that she was having these strange dreams about the Avatar, which apparently was an ancient legend that she had never heard of before. Just a strange coincidence.

She forced herself to lay back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, silently repeating this over and over to herself until she fell asleep.

Just a strange coincidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double-update tonight just to catch this up with what's posted on fanfiction!


	4. Together

Asami got to school early the next day. Her father had been upset at her for skipping school on Tuesday, not buying for one second that she had actually been sick. Because of that, she was now required to get up and leave an extra half-hour early so that her father could make sure she left for school before he left for work.

His words echoed in her mind. _You are making it very difficult to trust you, lately._ Her nails dug slightly into her thighs through her jeans as she fought to keep from wincing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice that was becoming all-too-familiar. “Asami! You’re back!”

Asami looked up to see Korra bouncing over to stand to the left of her desk, giant smile still plastered onto her face. “Hey, Korra,” she replied, coughing when her voice cracked on the other girl’s name.

Korra immediately frowned. “Are you okay? Bolin said you weren’t feeling too good yesterday. You sure you’re ready to be back at school?”

The concern on her face made Asami’s heart flutter, catching her off-guard enough for Mako to speak up—she immediately felt guilty for not even realizing that he had come in with Korra.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” he said in answer to Korra’s inquiry. He took his own seat to Asami’s right. “Asami’s immune system is crazy. This is the first time she’s gotten sick in, like, ten years, probably.” His eyes were glancing weirdly between the two of them, but he sent her that crooked smile she told him she loved so much.

But Asami was underwhelmed by it. Then came more guilt. She smiled back, anyways, before turning back to Korra. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

Korra’s smile returned, though smaller than before.

The bell rang, and Dr. Varrick’s sudden presence caused Asami to immediately relax—in a few moments, she could focus on the lesson instead of wishing she could see that sunshine grin again.

Then she noticed that Korra was still standing, searching the classroom with slightly wide eyes. Dr. Varrick noticed after a few awkward seconds.

“Oh, yes, Korra! I guess they still haven’t found me an extra desk to sit you in! No matter, you can take my chair for the day—I never use it. Too confining for my taste.” He started rolling said chair in her direction as he continued, “I’m sure Miss Sato won’t mind sharing her desk with you for the day—you two seem to have formed quite the budding friendship!”

Korra’s cheeks turned slightly pink, and Asami could feel that her own were worse. All she could do was hum her agreement as Dr. Varrick practically shoved Korra into the desk chair.

Then Korra turned on that blinding smile, and Asami knew it was going to be a _long_ lesson.

Mako’s next class was located in the opposite direction of Asami and Korra’s math class, so they were to part ways outside Dr. Varrick’s room.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” he asked Asami, who smiled and nodded in answer.

Then he kissed her goodbye.

She tried not to react as if something was wrong—but how could anything be right, when Korra was looking at them like a wounded puppy? For a split second, foolishly, Asami thought that there might be a chance that this meant Korra had feelings for her. But when those ocean-blue eyes followed Mako as he left, Asami’s heart dropped to her stomach.

Korra liked Mako. Not her. Of course. What was she thinking? What would it have even mattered if Korra had a crush on her? Nothing could ever come of it. She was with Mako. And her father….

Nothing could ever come of it.

“Come on,” she said, trying to act as if she didn’t notice Korra’s reaction, “we’re gonna be late if we don’t get moving.”

Korra visibly shook herself out of the trance she had entered. “Um. Right, yeah.” She gave Asami a small smile, but Asami could barely return it and had to force herself to look forward.

Halfway through the walk to class, Korra suddenly called out, “I’ll meet you in class, gotta pee!” and before Asami could even fully turn around, she had disappeared into the girls’ bathroom a few feet away.

Asami shook her head and kept walking, smiling a bit at Korra’s goofy nature. It wasn’t until she was outside the classroom door that she realized she’d been daydreaming about Korra’s face—her dorky grin, the way her eyes would almost glow when she laughed, the crinkle of her nose when she was concentrating on a difficult trig problem—the entire walk over. She choked down a frustrated groan at herself.

Walking into the classroom and seeing Bolin, she wondered why she couldn’t just be normal. She really did care about Mako—she even found him attractive, truly. Liking boys was no problem.

But why did she have to like _girls_ , too? Why couldn’t she focus on her boyfriend instead of being distracted by a gorgeous, athletic, dorky, cheesy, sweet, perfect new girl?

Bolin waved at her excitedly once he noticed her presence, so Asami shoved all of her frustration deep down and smiled in return, like she always did.

She had to be normal.

* * *

 

 _So stupid_ , Korra chastised herself throughout the walk to math class. _How could you not notice that they were together?_

Korra was hurt. Her chest ached with sadness, but her face burned with anger. Jealousy. One moment, she felt her nails biting into her palms as she gripped the shoulder straps of her bookbag—the next, smoke was seeping from between her fingers. Now panicked, Korra looked around to see that there was a bathroom a few feet away. “I’ll meet you in class, gotta pee!” she quickly called to Asami as she dashed to the restroom. She didn’t dare look to see her reaction.

Once safely inside, Korra immediately tossed her bookbag as far away as she could. Black palm-prints were now singed into its blue straps. She found herself pacing the length of the restroom, cursing herself for not being able to control her emotions. She really, really wanted to punch something.

Oddly enough, the image that came to mind when she thought of things to punch was Mako’s face.

Korra shook her head at herself. Why was she mad at Mako? She should be mad at Asami—or at least jealous of her, for preventing Korra from being with him. But, no, Korra was most definitely feeling mad at Mako.

The bell rang, meaning that she was now late for class. Korra groaned in frustration and leaned against one of the sinks, turning on the tap in the hopes that the cooling sensation would act in a metaphorical sense for her emotions, as well. After a few moments, it kind of worked, and Korra found that her chest didn’t ache so much. She let the water run between her fingers and over her palms. Just watching it fall had always been soothing for her. With a twirl of her finger, a few droplets separated from the steady stream and floated upwards, dancing around each other in front of Korra’s face. More drops joined them, until they all combined into a shape-shifting bubble of water hanging in midair.

Then a stall flung open. Losing her concentration, Korra dropped the water she’d been bending, which splashed into the sink and all over her shirt as she whirled around to face the intruder.

She looked vaguely familiar—then Korra realized that she was another student in the math class they were currently missing. She had a birthmark under her right eye that Korra remembered noticing before, but she couldn’t recall the girl’s name. Her mouth was agape, and Korra said nothing. Maybe she would be able to convince the girl that she hadn’t seen anything….

Then the girl’s mouth slowly shifted into a grin, and Korra was officially scared.

“You’re a waterbender,” she said breathlessly. Korra felt her eyes widen, but before she could respond, the girl continued, “I can’t believe it. I never thought I would meet one of you—I don’t even know another earthbender!”

Korra could only stand there, now scared and shocked and confused all at once. Apparently sensing her discomfort, the other girl spoke again.

“I’m sorry—I promise, I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.” She grinned again and held out her hand for Korra to shake. “I’m Kuvira.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and let me know what you guys think! Hope you enjoyed!


	5. The Legend

Korra shook the hand offered to her. “Kuvira, right, yeah—we’re actually in the same, uh, math class,” Korra stumbled out. She rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably after letting go of the handshake, but Kuvira didn’t seem to notice.

“Yeah, you’re right! You’re the new girl—Korra.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Korra didn’t know quite how to feel about the way Kuvira seemed to be studying her, appraising her value. But, she was an earthbender, so they had something in common, at least. “I earthbend, too, by the way. And firebend,” she tacked on, snapping a flame into existence.

Kuvira’s eyes went wide, which put Korra on edge even more. “Oh, my God,” Kuvira breathed, and now she was the one stumbling over her words. “Are you—you’re telling me that—you’re—you’re the _Avatar_?”

Korra _really_ didn’t like where this was going.

* * *

Asami was worried when Korra never showed up to math class. Bolin seemed concerned, as well—he kept sending her questioning glances, to which she could only respond with a shrug and an attempt to seem like Korra’s disappearance _wasn’t_ the only thing preoccupying her mind now.

After the bell rang, Asami couldn’t help but sulk a bit as she exited the classroom behind Bolin. She glanced around the hallway, worriedly looking for Korra. She was so busy looking around her that she wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of her—Bolin suddenly stopped mid-step, causing her stomach to crash into his bookbag. Pabu peered up at her through the opening in the bag, head tilted as if he was waiting for an apology. Asami mouthed one out to him as Bolin called out his reason for stopping.

“There’s Korra!” he said excitedly. He waved in front of him, and Asami peered around his body to see the aforementioned girl exiting the bathroom with… Kuvira Beifong?

Asami suddenly felt hot, as if she was blushing with her whole body. Kuvira was known around the school for being one of the few “out” students, even if she claimed that she “didn’t like labels.” And the way they were smiling and laughing with each other made Asami’s chest fill with the urge to walk up to Korra, link their arms together, and stalk off as far away from Kuvira as they possibly could.

Then Korra looked up, when Bolin had called her name, and when their eyes met, Asami swore everything else melted from existence—just for a second, though, because then Korra was walking over _with_ Kuvira, each step bringing that feeling back stronger and stronger within her chest. Asami felt exhausted, as if Korra were giving her whiplash with all the differing emotions she caused.

“Hey, guys!” Korra said cheerfully. “Sorry I missed math—kinda lost track of time. Kuvira and I have a, uh—a lot in common.” She said this a bit questioningly, with a strange glance over towards the other girl that unsettled Asami even more.

Kuvira only smiled though. “Yeah, you could say that.” Her grin highlighted the mole under her right eye, causing it to move up and down with her cheeks. Even though there was no other girl at RCH that dressed as boyish as she did, Kuvira was still considered one of the most attractive girls in the school. Asami yearned to reach for Korra again.

The transfer student was only grinning back at Kuvira, though, until her eyebrows furrowed and she turned towards Asami. “Isn’t your class in the other direction, ‘Sami?”

The warning bell rang just then as another reminder to Asami that she was about to be late; it also served to distract Asami from the fluttering that the nickname caused in her chest. “Oh, uh, yeah. I’ll—see you guys at lunch?” She turned around and started speed walking away without waiting for a response, hating the feeling of losing control over her emotions. She took deep breaths as she walked, trying to force everything regarding Korra out of her mind—at least, for a little while.

* * *

 

Korra stayed quiet about Kuvira during her Spanish class with Bolin. Since he had never mentioned Kuvira before, Korra assumed that he didn’t know Kuvira was an earthbender. She was nearly bouncing out of her seat with excitement up until lunch, wanting desperately to ramble about her newfound friend, but also knowing that she needed to make sure Kuvira would be okay with anyone else knowing.

When the bell rang, Korra nearly bolted from the room; the only thing that kept her from doing so was Bolin’s whining about how he hadn’t had his lunch, yet, so he didn’t have the energy to run. She dragged him along behind her, searching through the crowd of people in the cafeteria until she spotted the girl in question. Kuvira was just leaving the line with her tray of food, and her eyes met Korra’s as soon as she looked up from putting in her lunch number.

Korra turned her head towards Bolin as she spoke, but she didn’t take her eyes off of Kuvira, lest she walk off. “Go ahead and get in line—I’m gonna ask Kuvira if she wants to sit with us, if that’s cool?”

Bolin had just started to form the word “sure” when Korra was already jogging across the cafeteria.

“Hey!” Korra greeted with a grin. “I had a couple things to ask you!”

Kuvira gave her a crooked smile, taking a couple of steps out of the way of the students behind her. “Go for it, Avatar.”

The name threw her off—she hadn’t heard that word out loud until Kuvira came along. She shook her head slightly and continued, “Okay, first off, do you wanna come sit with me and Bolin and Asami? And second, is….” Korra trailed off with the sudden realization that she was just about to tell Kuvira that Bolin is an earthbender without granting him the same courtesy she was trying to grant Kuvira. “Um, actually, just the one question. Wanna sit with us? Bolin said it was okay, and I… _really_ think you would hit it off with him.”

“Oh.” Kuvira raised an eyebrow, and her smile had dropped a little bit. “Are you sure Asami would be okay with it?”

Korra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “I’m pretty sure. She’s super sweet. Why wouldn’t she want you to be there?”

The second eyebrow joined the first, high up on Kuvira’s forehead as her gaze momentarily dropped. “No reason in particular.” She lifted her eyes back to Korra’s and smiled wider. “I’d love to sit with you. Thanks.”

Korra grinned brightly. After telling Kuvira she could just sit at their normal table, she ran back to the end of the line, about ten people now between her and Bolin.

* * *

 

When Asami got to the cafeteria, a little later than usual, she was greeted with the sight of Kuvira, Mako and Bolin sitting together at their table. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, until she looked up and saw Korra exiting the line with her tray, large smile on her face and eyes locked onto their visitor.

The jealousy flared up again, and Asami forced herself to keep moving with the crowd to join one of the lines. As she was walking, she tried to just look straight ahead, but Korra called to her with, “Hey, ‘Sami!” and she couldn’t resist. That glowing smile drew her gaze once more, and she couldn’t help but to smile back.

“Hurry up,” Korra continued. “I miss you!”

Asami quickly turned away at that, but only to hide her blush. She cursed to herself. _Stop letting her get to you._

Korra, meanwhile, had been caught off-guard by Mako’s sudden appearance at the lunch table. The emotions she’d been having right before she met Kuvira washed back over her for a second, and she suddenly got the urge to call out to Asami. So, she did.

And then she sat down next to Kuvira, across from Mako and Bolin, and took a deep breath. “Okay, you guys. There’s something you all have in common, and this is the fairest way for me to let you know.” Even though Mako hadn’t originally been part of the plan, Korra could include him with no issues. She just had to make sure they understood before Asami came out of the line. She looked around at the puzzled gazes she was receiving and said, “I want you all to think about something big that you have in common with me—and don’t say it out loud, just think about it.”

Kuvira glanced nervously between Korra and the boys; Mako did the same. Bolin just looked confused. Korra sighed. “That thing you’re all thinking of? You have it in common with each other, too.”

Kuvira and Mako’s eyes widened after a beat, followed by the smiles on their faces. “Dude,” Kuvira breathed, leaning in closer. “Earth?”

Mako shook his head and responded just as giddily. “For Bolin, yeah, but I do fire. And Korra, she—”

“—does everything, yeah, I know.” Kuvira looked over to her with such excitement in her eyes that Korra couldn’t keep her own smile tampered down.

“…Wait, _what_?” Bolin said suddenly, seemingly just now catching on. His eyes widened comically as he put his palms flat on the table. “Holy crap. _Holy crap_.” He dropped his voice to a stage-whisper, “You’re an _earthbender_?”

“Apparently, you are, too,” Kuvira replied. “Man, this is the craziest day. We have to, like, hang out after school, show each other what we got.” She grinned over at Korra. “I’m curious to see all of the Avatar’s potential.”

Korra lightly smacked her on the shoulder. “I’m not ‘The Avatar.’ Stop saying that.”

“No, wait,” Mako interrupted, his brow now furrowed. “Why does that sound familiar? ‘Avatar’….”

“You guys don’t know the legend?” Kuvira asked incredulously.

“The legend of what?” Asami said, suddenly appearing behind the boys.

Bolin was subtly waving his hand in front of his neck to keep Kuvira quiet, so Korra jumped in. “The legend of how the girls’ bathroom upstairs is haunted.”

Asami rolled her eyes and sat down next to Mako, across from Korra. “That’s not a thing.” Her eyes met Kuvira’s, who smirked over at her.

“You’re right. I just made it up to try and scare them. You caught me.”

Asami fought to keep her eyes from rolling again, instead simply turning to look at Korra again. Of course, this only reminded her that she needed to _not_ be looking at Korra, because that smile, that laugh… _she_ was going to end up melting her into a puddle of sin. Asami turned to look beside her, at Mako, but that only made her feel guilty for wishing she was next to Korra, instead.

Asami sighed quietly. It was going to be a long lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took me so long, you guys! I kind of lost the energy I had going for this story, but I'm hoping this is a sign that I'm getting it back! Let me know what you guys think!


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